Dr John Roland Beard, Director of Department of Ageing and Life-Course
at the World Health Organization (WHO) was one of the key speakers at the HelpAge
Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Economic Implications of Ageing in Hanoi,
Viet Nam. He spoke to Citizen News Service (CNS) in an exclusive interview on
how to effectively advance the agenda of the ageing populations (listen to this
interview here: http://bit.ly/cnspodcast
).

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Here is what Dr John Beard
said to CNS:

Investing in caring for the
aged

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"It is an essential and smart investment if governments are really
serious about socio economic development. But economics apart, the older people
have rights just like anybody else. And if governments want to create fair and
equitable societies, they need to care for all segments of populations,
including the aged people".

Global Strategy and Action
Plan on Ageing and Health 2016-2020

"Adoption of this plan by the World Health Assembly in May 2016 was an
important milestone. The plan identifies 5 key strategic objectives where
action is required:

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- A global campaign to combat ageism by solidifying commitments of
countries around the world - This is the essential first step to achieve the
other four objective

- Providing long term care to the aged - In many countries,
particularly in emerging economies, this role is traditionally played by
families who look after the older people. But when people talk about families
they are really talking about women. So this is not only unjust for women but
also unsustainable. There are very few women for the many more older people and
it also means that women cannot participate in the work force or children
cannot go to school because they need to care for an older person. So families
alone cannot be expected to provide the care and support that older people
need.

Citizen News Service (CNS) specializes in in-depth and rights-based, health and science journalism. For more information, please contact: www.citizen-news.org or @cns_health or www.facebook.com/cns.page